Kandice,
I hope I didnt give the impression that I wanted anyone to justify the
price of their beads. Nooooo... I rejoice when I see one of RCB's artists
auctions going high. I dont mind that they are out of my price range at this
point. Someday, perhaps, they wont be.
I want every artist who loves what they are doing as much as you and every
other bead artist whose joy shows so obviously in their work to get paid
scad loads of money so you can keep on doing it!
Im just a curious soul... I love to ask questions. There is no need *ever*
for an artist to justify a price they set on their work. Thats what the
consumer might do.. justify the price they pay*, but to me the artist is
free to set any price they want to and its up to the consumer to decide if
that object is worth that price.
Hugs
Diana
*ps. picture the beader who has come home with a fabulous bead that has used
up all the food money . Id say they better come up with a really good
reason to explain to the family why they are eatting top ramen for the rest
of the month. ;-)

"Kandice Seeber" wrote in message
...
The more expensive colors tend to be more popular with buyers, because the
colors are really spectacular. So buyers tend to go ahead and pay more for
the really gorgeous stuff. Ink blue, dark lavender, gold pink, silver
pink,
opal yellow, copper green, etc. are all more expensive because they are
handpulled and some contain precious metals - people love these colors in
beads.
I have never had any problems justifying my prices. Never. Not one time.
I've been told countless times to increase them. And I did when things
were
getting out of hand and I couldn't keep up. Didn't help. People still
wanted the beads, even at higher prices. Dammit, I sould like such a
snob,
but it's true.
There's something also about lampwork that you just cannot quantify or put
into a formula, and that's the artistic side. Pricing is hard, and I admi
t
that sometimes I just fly by the seat of my pants.
But I have never had anyone tell me that my stuff is not worth the price.
I
have had people tell me that they can't afford my stuff, but that's common
no matter what you make. But there are always people in line behind the
people that can't afford it. I really wish I could make beads and sell
them
for cheap to people who can't afford the expensive stuff. But I can't
afford that myself. There's too much work involved in this craft to do
that. Instead I have the weekly giveaway, and I sometimes donate beads to
charity and such. Then there are BFNR's. I do those when I can.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

Thank you all... I am getting a clearer idea of which embellishments
are
harder and why...
Im trying to understand the pricing of beads. Its a fairly obvious
equation
on the face of things: the more time, the more glass, the more expensive
the
glass and the trickier the technique is to master the higher priced the
bead
must be. I imagine that each artist could quantify those elements
somehow,
maybe some have, to get a rough idea of the cost to make a bead.
Then comes the trickier part. How much will someone be willing to pay
for
that particular bead? If I may go back to the example of the beads Sooz
posted, from all you *plural ya'lls* have described the surface design
on
a
clear bead is not the most challenging design and yet someone may be
willing
to pay more for that than an equally well executed bead made of the most
expensive and testy types of glass. How do you figure that into your
equations?
I do enjoy reading the steps it takes to create the beautiful beads
you
make. I used to gasp when I looked at the auctions final prices and now
I
just watch and applaud when they go nice and high. Another bonus is
learning
to see the difference between well done and medium.
Diana